Chapter 11 - Forging Anew

Tal weaved in and out erratically; narrowly dodging the seemingly never-ending stream of fireballs. He didn’t want to go on much longer like this. Not with the other reptilian monster also chasing after him. But that was fine. He was just waiting for the perfect opening.

The main problem was the leader of the two. The smug bastard sitting back launching fireball after fireball toward him. He couldn’t engage the melee fighter without risking getting his ass burnt off. Similarly, he couldn’t engage the leader without the spear-wielding monster getting a prime opportunity to turn him into a human kebab.

He wasn’t without a plan, though. He slowly began advancing toward one of the far corners of the room, putting as much distance between himself and his ranged attacker as possible. The leader only leered at this, knowing that no amount of distance would make its attacks any less of a threat. And that would be true, had this been a battle between only the two of them.

Much to Tal’s delight, the spear-wielding reptilian kept on his tracks. It would, every so often, lunge forward with its weapon. Tal didn’t struggle too hard to avoid those sloppy attacks and continued to coax the creature toward him; until it was centred between him and its leader. With its leader so far away, the melee attacker was acting as a barrier. Tal had precious seconds before it was in a position to resume targetting him with its magic.

Tal lept out toward the creature's throat. To his chagrin, his strike was swiftly blocked by the haft of its weapon and he was pushed backward. Menacing growls rose from the creature’s throat and it advanced voraciously.

Tal tried again, this time reaching toward the haft of his adversaries spear. Sharp steel pierced his hand as he missed by mere inches. But it was still enough to get a firm grip. He pulled on the spear, sending the monster staggering forward, but quickly had to release his grip as the blade bit deep into his palm.

By now, the magic-wielding leader was just about ready to continue its onslaught. Tal wasn’t in the mood for any of that. He liked living.

Tal pulled the spear wilding lizard creature toward him once again, seeking to take advantage of its poor coordination. During its moment of unbalance, he spun it around, pressing its back against his and holding his dagger firmly against its throat. The creature's eyes widened and it strained to remove itself from Tal’s embrace. Tal wasn’t worried. It couldn't move too abruptly without decorating its throat with a series of thin slashes.

One more Tal mentally checked off in his head, staring at the leader.

The leader of the creatures barked something in its guttural language, pointing at Tal and throwing its limbs around in a slightly humorous display of aggression. It looked something like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.

Tal began to advance on the leader, meat shield in tow.

Seeing Tal advancing, the reptilian ceased its flailing before moving to launch yet another fireball toward the duo.

Tal ducked behind his hostage’s back, narrowly avoiding the fireball that whizzed harmlessly over his shoulder and into one of the walls of the room.

He rose and quickened his pace now. He didn’t want to risk too many more of the creature's fiery attacks.

Yet more magic burned bright from the oversized lizard. This time in both hands. With a surprising speed, the monster launched the fireballs in duel succession toward the human and fellow kobold.

Tal didn’t even have time to duck. The fireballs rammed into his meat shield, splattering burning flames all about, and knocking the two of them off their feet. His back hit the floor with a dull thud, particles of dust piercing his eyes. The reassuring grip of his dagger flung from his hand to god knows where. Instantly, he knew he was in a bad spot.

He turned to his side. Trying to ignore the ringing in his ears. Through flecked vision, Tal spotted his former shield, laying still, eyes still wide in disbelief, slowly sizzling away.

He kept looking about, trying to gather himself, and locate the last of his enemies. Between his ringing ears and the blur setting into his eyes. His search returned fruitlessly, but he rolled to his feet trying to retain whatever alertness he could.

A muted scuff from behind forewarned his mistake. A moment later and the creature wrapped its thick arms around his neck.

“A taste for your own medicine.” It choked out in a grating voice that sounded grotesquely non-human. The monster began to lift him up from its chokehold.

Tal opened his mouth but no words could find their way past his slowly crushing windpipe. So this is it… he thought as everything began to fade to black. But no. He wasn’t ready to die. Not like this anyway.

He strained against the creature, but it was just too strong. Nothing so mundane was ever going to do, though he kept trying with all his might.

“Stupid human…know your place.” the creature spoke again, tightening its grip around Tal’s throat.

Tal fought with all his concentration and all the determination of the last few days that had seen him to this point. He couldn’t let it end like this.

The System dinged with a notification once in his ears but Tal wasn’t paying attention. Somehow, something caused the monster before him to release its grip. And judging from its expression, it was just as mystified as Tal was.

Not one to ever let a moment of opportunity go unrealised, Tal jabbed out toward the eyes of the monster. A wet sketch could be heard as his fingers met the soft flesh of the monster and something gave way.

The monster began to flail wildly but Tal swiftly retreated, just before the monster could catch him in its embrace. He was still too woozy for any exchange of attacks to end in his favour. He would have to play this very carefully.

Luckily though, the monster looked to have been blinded. That was a very welcome, and much-needed addition to the situation. The monster stopped swinging its limbs around, knowing it had missed its window to strike Tal. Instead, it began sniffing, and then, turned its head square toward Tal as it lumbered toward him.

But Tal had been in its position many times over lately. Being blind to a battle was something he had become intimately familiar with.

As the lone approaching monster got closer it slowed, approaching more cautiously. Tal knew what it was trying to do. It was the same thing that he had always done during his training with his dwarven instructor.

Tal was determined not to give the creature any chance to preempt his attack. He launched forward suddenly, sending his fist striking out in a hook at the creature's temple. But he must have been too slow. The creature veered slightly, and his fist only managed to land a glancing blow.

The glancing blow was enough for Tal to quickly get in a follow-up blow into the creature's abdomen before it could manage any sort of defence or retaliation. As the creature keeled over, Tal send his foot flying to the back of its head.

“Wave 1 Complete.” the voice of the room spoke up again.

Tal sighed in relief, collapsing to the floor. That had been a close fight. Too close. It dawned on him just how outclassed he was. There was no way he was going through with the rest of the waves given just how badly the first had gone.

He took a moment to gather his breath, recover, and most importantly, go over the notifications blinking in the corner of his vision.

Level Up!

You have overcome your enemies! Though your journey just begins...

Your level has increased from level 2 to level 3.

+4 Attribute Points.

Tal knew he wouldn’t be stockpiling any of these points. He needed to be more. He opened his Attributes screen. Reflecting on the battle, he decided his true pitfalls were not having enough strength to carry out his plans. Tal went ahead and invested two points into his Strength Attribute.

Increased strength was useless if you couldn’t use it properly though. His Dexterity was already fine. His Agility though was becoming quite lacking. Tal looked at his Charisma, another attribute that was beginning to fall behind, and the only attribute that was currently below 10 points. But he just couldn't afford to put any of his scarce few points into something that wouldn't help him quite so directly as he needed right now.

Tal went ahead and put his remaining two points both into Agility. He physically felt the changes as his body filled out a little more and his breathing returned to normal a little quicker. From his status screen, he could see the changes completely spelled out for him.

Primary Attributes

Dexterity: 15

Agility: 12

Strength: 15

Constitution: 17

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Charisma: 8

You have placed 2 points into Agility.

You have placed 2 points into Strength.

Once he was done allocating his attributes, he found another pleasant surprise awaiting him. He opened the notification he had received mid-fight and found two major changes.

Begotten Of Null

[Bloodline]

Bloodline Forging: 15% Complete

Abilities

Forging status has been updated from 0% to 15%

The ability ‘Incorporeality Shift’ has been manifested.

The voice of the room abruptly spoke, interrupting his musings. “Wave 2 incoming.”

“Shit,” Tal muttered, “I should have looked at all this after I found an exit.”

He looked around. The room was thoroughly sealed anyway. It would seem like he would either be finishing these waves or this room would become the finish line to his life.

Like last time, a rectangular slit in one of the walls shuddered backward to reveal what the next wave had in stock. A single, humanoid-looking monster strode forward at a measured pace. Tal took in the behemoth of a creature. If not for the games he had played back on his homeworld he would have called the creature an Orc if not for its excessive size.

Perched on the shoulder of the Orc, was a figure he had missed. A seemingly innocuous-looking bird. After closer studying this creature, Tal noticed a mouth lined with razor-sharp teeth and a set of fangs.

He knew he would need all the help he could get and, despite the distraction it would be, he had to know what his new Ability was. He opened up his bloodline screen again, this time focusing on the header titled Abilities, then selecting the first and only option from the list.

Incorporeality Shift [Rare]

Level: 1

Mana Cost: 50-100

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Effect: You can target a particular area of your body, making that area go partially incorporeal for a small period of time. While in place the rules that govern the material realm will become far less burdensome.

With the addition of the ability, Tal noticed a new entry for Mana make itself visible on his general profile. It was far too late for him to check that out though. The orc began to rush straight toward him, swinging its wooden club up in preparation for an overhand strike.

Tal minimised the visual prompts in his vision. It was time to focus. He would definitely put this ability to good use.